It is a strange feeling when you realise that these installments of the Millennium Falcon from Fanhome have reached the halfway mark. That’s fifty issues of building, just over a year of constructing and the model itself looking to be in a very good state. Well, at least half of it is anyway! My eight-year-old daughter – Ember – and I have learnt a vast amount of knowledge so far. We’ve discovered a new passion together and are purchasing equipment that we both can learn to use. It’s probably a good time to just reflect on the project so far. It’s a project that is a huge investment in terms of money and time yet at no point have I regretted this. For the price of me going to Starbuck’s every week with Ember, I get to spend time with my daughter doing something I love and something that Ember has started to have a real passion for. To think that in another fifty issues, we’ll have a studio scale version of the Falcon that both of us can look at and go ‘we made that’ is something that already makes me smile. This alone is worth it. Having Ember watching the documentary Light and Magic on Disney Plus and realising they’re showing the Falcon we’re building is incredible.
Yet there is so much more to this project. The skills that I am learning have made me realize that this is a hobby I can really enjoy. The fact that Ember is also learning a wide range of skills at her early age is fantastic. It’s the start of a hobby for her that doesn’t involve looking at a computer screen continually. We’ve also purchased an airbrush, something we’ve already planned when we’re going to use as soon as the weather is warmer. It’s a skill I’m excited to try and learn and something that I’m sure Ember will master and be able to come proficient in when she’s younger, allowing her to take it to heights that I can’t even imagine. Not only do I have no regrets about this project but I’m already starting to wonder what projects we may do after!
It might be halfway for the construction, but it is in fact the last two installments of the current delivery. It has been an amazing delivery, having the lower hull looking, well, like the Falcon should like, with plates, details and proof that Ember and I have been working so hard. I wondered where we would be heading now. As always, I opened issue fifty to check what we would be doing, if I would need to do any prep work before Ember joined me. Halfway yet I felt on opening the issue, that we had come full circle and were now on repeat! It was time to assemble the top hull frame. Ember saw me looking and her excitement rose when she realised what we would be doing. Partly because she knew that doing the top part would mean the Falcon would start looking even more like the Falcon but also because she knew what she was doing. She has always enjoyed constructing the hull frames. But what a difference a year makes. She started unsure of what to do, how to put things together. Now having everything repeat for the top hull, meant she could put into practice and reinforce what she had learnt. As a parent, I was rather excited to see what she could do without much support from me.
It was very evident that just one issue wouldn’t be enough. Part fifty-one was more upper hull construction and would seamlessly flow on from the previous installment. While they now seem short to me, these issues were the perfect length for Ember. Not too long that she would lose interest, but not too short that it would be over too quickly. Now while the construction might be short, that’s to make room in the magazines themselves for the painting tips. I’ve decided to wait to paint the Falcon as a whole. In the magazine it explains they’re doing it this way so you can spread the workload by starting now. However, for Ember and me, we can use that time (weather dependent) to help us learn how to use an airbrush correctly, before starting on the paint itself. Looking through these painting guides, the references photos will be invaluable but what really caught my attention was in the second issue, the painting techniques. It breaks down some of the effects that are used on the model and will be perfect to practice on other (cheaper) models before we come to paint the Falcon.
With nothing to do prep wise and some reading on painting to save for another time, Ember and I were ready to begin. We did have to find the hull we had already constructed, which took us some time until we realized that we had already added a hull plate (the magazine told us to!) that isn’t pictured on the one shown in the instructions. The confidence Ember had was such a marked difference to when we began. I didn’t need to tell her to do anything. She was straight to the screwdriver, getting the correct screws and connectors and then placing them all correctly. While it is great to see this growth, there was a little part of me that was pleased that she still needed me to hold the connectors steady for her to do the screwing. I’m not ready for my little girl to be completely independent!
Everything should have gone seamlessly and have been an easy two issues; the two blended together effortlessly for us. However, we did encounter one problem: part TF-10. This part is curved, and I presume will house the corridor we have built to the cockpit. It’s the first time that we really had an issue with parts not lining up. I had to carefully bend the part to make sure that it would fit correctly. Thankfully this wasn’t too hard to do but it certainly needed me stepping in to do it.
After we solved this problem, it was plain sailing. Ember got the screws; I lined up the parts and the frame was done in no time. It was just the right length for Ember to have the two issues combined. It was also the perfect way to end this delivery. Ember said to me she found it a bit strange going back to the start and it was. But it was also eye-opening to see just how far we’ve both progressed in this hobby after fifty issues. Although we’re having to do everything, we’ve done all over again, I’m very excited to see the top of the Falcon come together. Then we really will have a ship to boast about! This has been one of the most successful deliveries to date, I’m just hoping my high expectations can be met when the next one comes through the letterbox.
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